smiles that fade
by Kaze wolf
Summary: Ryou Bakura has found out about the wizards of england while practising the use of shadow magic with his yami, and has been accepted as the new teacher in Hogwarts. But in the end, the curse over the job was too tough to overcome. OOC, AU, character death
1. Chapter 1

I sigh as I read the headlines from the papers. I flick my white hair over my shoulder and take a sip from my tea _"A normal bank for a warm up and then the Gringrotts? Do I even want to know how rich I am now?"_

I hear the cold laughter from the confines of my mind and the spirit appears before me in a corporeal form that only I can see. _/"You shouldn't be complaining yadounshi, I keep myself entertained and you don't have to worry about finances"/._

I sigh again as I look at the daily prophet while the Times lays open on the table_. "That is true, but it still doesn't mean that I like it. But I guess it's better than stealing people's souls"._

He laughs again and gets up from the chair he sat on and begins to wander around the pub, probably looking trough peoples pockets for anything valuable. And if he finds anything he makes me walk past them or bump in to them if they get up. But it is better than hurting people.

Against all popular belief the spirit was actually quite considerate, if you happened to be his host and a necessary part of his existence. So things could be worse than they were.

And thanks to the spirit, we had found this hidden community of modern wizards. Their magic was different from the shadows that Ryou had learned to control, but at least he was free to walk around without being stared at constantly.

_/"The contact is here."/_ Ryou could have jumped at the sudden voice in his head if he wanted to make a fool of himself, but luckily he had become used to the random comments coming from his spirit every once in a while.

He looked up from his news paper and smiled friendly at the elderly woman who was walking to him.

He got up from his chair and bowed politely at her, old habits die hard. "I believe that you are professor Mrs. McGonagall?"

The woman was a bit taken aback by the politeness of this young man before her and it took her a few moments to organize her thoughts enough to answer. "Yes, and you are mister Ryou Bakura?"

Ryou nodded and mentioned for the professor to sit down before he himself did so, while trying his best to ignore the spirit's remarks of him being too well mannered. "I heard that the school is searching for a new defense against the dark arts teacher, is this true? Because I would be interested".

The professor just nodded before speaking. "Yes, this is true. But might I inquire why you would want to fill the spot? It is common knowledge that this specific job has been cursed".

Ryou nodded while he heard the spirit exclaim _/"Cursed? You told me you wanted a normal wizard job. You never mentioned anything about any curses!"/_

"Don't worry, I know of this curse. That is part of the reason why I'm so intrigued by it_". "And if it really is cursed, you might have your hands full"._

The elderly female nodded and continued "do you have any field experience about fighting the dark arts?"

Ryou nodded again "I have been forced in to the position of dueling against dark beings in the past. And I have done a bit of researching about the origins of dark magic. So the academic teaching should not be a problem at all".

He heard the familiar insane laughter float trough his mind again as the spirit laughed at the irony of Ryou's words, technically he was one of the first dark mages to exist.

The professor nodded and stood up, Ryou quickly following. "If that is the case mister Bakura, I believe that you should fill a few forms and write us a rough sketch of your plans for the curriculum. Then we shall see if you are fit to teach the students".

Ryou politely bowed at the professor "Thank you for the opportunity Mrs. McGonagall. I hope that you will find a suitable teacher".

The professor nodded and handed over the necessary forms to fill. "Please mail the filled forms to the headmaster as soon as you can mister Bakura. And I hope we see again when the term starts".

Ryou nodded as he accepted the forms and started to fill them out as soon as the professor was out of the pub. The bar keeper walked to him with a hot cup of tea and took the old one away while saying. "There's no need to go trough too much trouble with those forms".

Ryou just accepted the cup and asked "what do you mean?" With out lifting his gaze from the papers once. "I doubt there will be anyone else running for the position now that You-Know-Who is back".

Ryou felt the evil laughter float trough his mind _/"You-know-who? Dark lord? Even I could be called any of those. This is starting to sound interesting yadounshi"/._


	2. Chapter 2

It didn't really take any time at all to write out the forms and the lesson plans, and if Ryou had learned anything about the community, it was that the mail was fast. Especially so if you used a hawk, and your own at that.

And he got his positive reply on the day when the deadline was. And because of that, Ryou had been in such a good mood that he really hadn't cared that the spirit had started a street fight and a crime spree during the last three nights.

But now was the time to stock up on teaching materials and other necessary things. And the spirit just had to have his own shopping spree on the Knockturn alley. Not that Ryou minded much, he actually liked the skull candle holders that the spirit had gotten. But that might be because he liked things like that.

The cursed chest was also quite nice, the spirit had only managed to make it obey with shadow magic. So there were no worries of other people getting their hands on his stuff.

Also a few dozen books had wormed their way in to his hands, all of them about charms, spells and a few about history and the rest about dark arts.

Before Ryou had noticed it, it was the week before the term started and he was doing some last moment shopping in the midst of the students that were rushing from shop to shop.

He passed the Ollivanders shop and smiled a bit when he remembered what hassle it had been to get a wand from there.

----- flash back -----

Ryou walked in to the store cautiously, glancing around as the bell above the door jingled brightly. He was still wearing the clothes that the spirit had gotten for him from the normal London.

A long black coat and other dark clothes. Ryou didn't really like them but he had seen all wizards wear black cloaks so he'd just have to bear it.

The small balding man appeared from between the shelves and Ryou's eyes snapped to him from the interior of the shop. "You are the keeper of this shop I presume". The man nodded and smiled friendlily.

"Yes I am, how may I help you? You look far too old to be getting your first wand sir". Ryou just let out a nervous laugh and the spirit scowled from his soul room. _/"Tell him that you just broke your wand and need a new one"/._

Ryou just did what the spirit had told him to. "I'm in need of a new one sir. I just broke my last one". The shopkeeper seemed to buy this and asked for his wand arm, He presented his right one but said that he could use both if the situation demanded.

The man took a few measurements and then disappeared in to the rows of wands, coming out with a box "ten inches oak with a unicorn hair core, very good with charms" Ryou had the feeling that it wouldn't work but reached for the wand none the less.

And before Ryou's hand had even touched the wand, it exploded. "this is definitely not your wand sir". Ryou could only agree as he glared at the spirit who was grinning from behind the counter at his misfortune.

The next twenty or so wands faced the same end as the first one had. Until that one wand, "Thirteen inches rose wood, dragon heart string and unicorn blood". The wand also had beautiful silver craftings on the handle.

This time the wand let Ryou touch itself without blowing apart. He picked it up and waved it towards the window to see how the sun reflected from the surface of the wand.

But as he waved it, the shadows quickly came alive in the shop and whirled around Ryou. The whirlwind of shadows got a bit wider and the spirit appeared in his original form and clothes before him.

_/"Well yadounshi, it seems like this truly is our wand"/_ Ryou blinked as he took in the spirit's look.

The hood hid his hair from view and the red coat cleverly hid most of him, making it difficult to see what he might do next. Next he noticed the golden rings and bands around his wrists and ankles. He also made a mental note about the scar on his cheek.

"_Is this what you truly look like?"_ The spirit scoffed _/"Stupid host, you are what I now look like. This body is long gone, corroded by time and sand. The thief king of Kul Elna is a lost myth"/_.

It might have been Ryou's imagination, but it seemed like seeing that body again had been a bit too much for the spirit. Yes, he must have imagined it. The spirit of the ring didn't cry.

----- end flash back -----

_/"Why are you in the book store again? There's nothing more of use to get from here stupid"/._ Ryou just chuckled and walked to the book row that held books of old legends and myths. _"You can never know too much"_.

The thief scoffed and started to walk trough the shop himself while Ryou went trough the books again. Finding nothing new, he started to walk out of the store but stopped when he saw a man put up a book for show.

As Ryou read the title he froze "Legends and History of Ancient Egypt". He quickly turned to the man and asked "Is that book for sale?" The man turned around and recognized Ryou the instant he saw him.

"Of course it is, I wouldn't put it up if it wasn't". Ryou nearly let out a girlish squeal at the news but the spirit quieted him quickly, no need to lose their face now. "How much?" "Ten galleons and twelve sicles".

Ryou paid the man and took a book, looking trough it to see any mistakes or missing pages, he saw none so he thanked the man and walked out with the book.


	3. Chapter 3

_Back in ancient times when the world held very little magic, in the land of pharaohs and floods. There was one man as widely known as the pharaohs were. It was said that this man could steal anything from the bread in your hand to the clothes you wore. And sometimes he wasn't satisfied with that, when those times came he took your very soul as his own. Not traps nor curses could stop him. Not devils nor the gods stood in his way when he commanded ferocious monsters to do his bidding._

_It is said that all the treasures he has stolen are still somewhere in the desert, hidden from eyes and ears, just waiting for their owner to return and claim his title once more. The thief king._

There wasn't much about the spirit in the book, and if Ryou ever was in terms of speaking with him, he could bet that he could even get the floor plan of the castle from the thief. Or at least some tales of the traps in the tombs of ancient pharaohs.

_/"Get your ass on the alley yadounshi"_/. Ryou snapped his head up from the book and blinked at the large amount of people inside the pub "what's going on?" He asked aloud in confusion before his ears couth a whispered conversation about death eaters.

_/"It's been a while since I've had real fun yadounshi, I'm not about to let the opportunity go to waste"/_ Ryou sighed and got up from the table he had sat at and walked calmly to the bar keeper "Hold this book for me for a moment".

Tom looked at Ryou questioningly as the young man placed the book on to the counter and quickly maneuvered himself trough the panicked mass of people and to the doorway.

He heard many yell to him to not go and how dangerous it would be. Ryou just glanced at the people behind himself and smiled reassuringly before pulling out his wand and going trough the now practiced tapping of bricks and watched the doorway open before him.

He walked trough before it had completely opened and watched it close soon after him. He turned to see the panic the alley had transferred in to and sighed "I'll be watching, but I'll leave the "fun" to you".

The spirit cackled evilly as Ryou let it take over his body, staying besides him in a spiritual form. /"You are too kind yadounshi"/. The spirit put the wand away and woke the shadows surrounding the shops. /"This is going to be fun"/.

Ryou glanced at the spirit and saw him lift his right arm, he was summoning. /"Headless knight, step forward!"/ The gigantic headless armor appeared out of the shadows that whirled around in a tornado.

All wizards froze and stared at the armor and the spirit laughed manically, giving the attack command to the knight.

The creature rushed towards the death eaters, lunging it's sword trough them effortlessly. The spirit smirked and ran in to the fray himself, pulling out one of the knives he had hidden in Ryou's clothes.

Ryou himself stayed near the entrance, watching the battle and listening to the screams as the death eaters' souls were swallowed in to the shadows.

Suddenly a presence was near him, no two. He glanced around himself and saw two pairs of feet near him _"that's weird"._

He moved towards them and blinked once or twice when a transparent cloth was thrown aside and two boys emerged.

One had red hair and the other had black, both were hoisting wands. The death eaters noticed them quickly and began to throw spells in to their direction. They bravely answered the fire.

But Ryou saw something that made his blood chill, the death curse. He thought quickly, _"even if it goes by the name of curse, it's still a spell."_

He lifted his hand and gathered the shadows while running before the boys _"Mystical refpanel!"_ The mirror and the spirit appeared before the boys, blocking the death curse.

The two boys yelped in fear as Ryou re directed the spell back at the death eater who cast it. _/"Why did you bother yadounshi?"/ "They're students and I'm a teacher now, it's my duty. And I couldn't just stand by when I could do something"._

The spirit just smirked and slashed a throat open from one death eater _/"or perhaps you just wanted to try killing someone again"/._

Ryou twitched involuntarily, every time the spirit worded things like that made him think that perhaps he was right. But now was not the time to think about that, he would keep these children alive.

Ryou concentrated and summoned all the shadows he could from the dark corners of the alley _"Gernia!"_ The dark monster like creature appeared before the three of them and he could hear the kids yelp in fright. _"Attack the death eaters!"_

The monster let out a gurgling growl like sound and attacked the death eaters with it's claws and teeth. Ryou glanced over his shoulder and saw the two boys paling noticeably.

"_It's hard to face death at that age". /"You aren't much better yadounshi, you are barely older than that yourself"/. "I guess you had to deal with it when you were younger than I was when we met"._ Silence, he was going to have it now.

There were the last screams of pain from the death eaters as they were killed or stunned. He heard the spirit laugh manically as he pulled his knife out of one death eaters chest. _/"It feels good to be alive!"/_

"_I know, would you let me in control? The wizards are afraid". /"They should be"/ _was the last comment the spirit made and Ryou felt the familiar tug at his conciseness when he was pulled back in to his body.

He would have fallen to the ground if he hadn't been ready for it. He quickly straightened himself and dismissed the monsters with silent thank you and then turned to see the wizards staring at him with their wands drawn.

Ryou chuckled nervously and lifted his hands in to clear sight, glad that the spirit had put the knife away. "Please, I'm not a threat. I was merely trying to protect you all".

He sighed as the wizards didn't seem to believe him and pushed his hand under his coat to reach his deck holder, pulling out two cards. Man-Eater Bug and De spell. Just in case.

He once again gathered the shadows surrounding him and concentrated on the mental image of the monster he intended to summon and whispered "Man-Eater Bug".

The creature quickly appeared out of the shadows and glared at Ryou accusingly. The said young man just laughed softly while scratching the scary monster's jaw apolitically.

"I'm sorry I haven't summoned you in a while. Are you ready to accept an apology?" The monster nodded and Ryou mentioned towards the dead bodies of the death eaters "Bon apetit".

Ryou watched the monster snarl in joy and leap toward the bodies that littered the alley and then turned towards the now even paler wizards. "Shall we go discuss this inside?"


	4. Chapter 4

Before the aurors and Ryou went inside the leaky cauldron, Ryou pulled out his wand and quickly cleaned the blood from his hair and clothes with a simple charm_ "you should be a bit cleaner with killing, don't you think?"_

He heard the spirit scoff but didn't really pay attention to it as he was directed inside and they were bombarded with dozens of questions from the other wizards.

Ryou sighed and somehow managed to sneak past the people un noticed, something the spirit had probably leaked trough to him. He walked to the counter and smiled at Tom "My book please?"

The bar keeper smiled at Ryou as he saw him and fished the book from underneath the counter. "I'm glad you're okay, not everyone is as brave as you are. Tea?"

Ryou nodded "yes please, mind bringing it to my table?" "Not at all". Ryou nodded and walked past the crowd of wizards and felt his hand do a few un intentional dives in people's pockets. _"Did you do this or am I starting to pick up your habits?"_

The spirit just grumbled something from his soul room and then closed his soul room's door. Yes, Ryou was learning bad habits. He was about to sit down when he noticed the big family of red heads sitting at his table, looking at him warily.

"I'm sorry, usually this table is empty. I'll go find another one". Something in his behavior seemed to wake the woman's motherly instings because she invited him to stay with them.

"Oh no dear. We don't mind if you stay here with us, this must be a horrible experience for you". Ryou just smiled friendlily at the plump woman and replied. "I think I will manage Mrs. This isn't the first time something like this has happened".

Suddenly Ryou remembered something, the kids on the alley and how the red haired one looked so much like these red heads. How to tell them that he's okay?

"I'm sorry for my rudeness so far, you have accepted me in your company without really knowing me at all. My name is Ryou Bakura and I will be teaching at Hogwarts this coming term".

The Family's eyes widened and two girl children, other clearly not a member of the family if the brown hair was any indication, quickly asked "what subject?"

Ryou blinked a few times to appear couth off guard and said "The defense against the dark arts, why?" All the people around the table gasped "but you're so young."

Ryou just shook his head "Please Mrs. I can take care of myself. And I know of the "curse" over the position so nothing to worry about, I'm actually quite exited to be a cursed teacher".

"Why would that be?" The father of the three children present asked. "I have somehow managed to turn all curses directed at me around so far, and so I have very little first hand experience of curses like these. So I have very little material for a book I'm intending to write about curses and such".

While Ryou was speaking with the father of these children the supposed mother asked the two older boys if they had seen Ronald or Harry yet. "Excuse me for interrupting your conversation Mrs. But do you have more children than these three?"

The woman nodded a bit wary of Ryou's sudden interest in her children "yes, why?" Ryou just shook his head and tried to ease the woman's suspicions of him. "No reason really, I just thought that I had seen a red haired boy on the alley during the attack".

The woman shrieked and the others began to yell at him, it all sounded like nonsense because they were all yelling different things. This cacophony of voices just didn't sit well with the spirit so he let quite a lot of his anger flood trough their mental link to Ryou.

Ryou was a bit afraid of the anger that flooded him but he couldn't bring himself to care all that much at that moment. The shadows around him went wild and caused some gusts of wind that played with Ryou's hair and clothes a bit. It didn't help at all that his eyes flashed momentarily red because of the spirit's influence.

Ryou stood up from the chair he had sat on and slammed his palm on to the table effectively quieting the whole pub, and gathering scared and worried glances to his direction from everyone inside.

"Just because I saw him doesn't mean I killed him, for crying out loud! Even if I was in the middle of my own duel at that moment didn't stop me from lending them some help!" Ryou gathered his book from the table.

"Now I'm sorry to leave in such a hurry, but I'll go to my room before I take my anger out on you. Forgive me". Ryou turned around where he stood and disappeared in to the staircase, walking straight to his room where he fought the urge to slam the door behind him.

_/"Quite the show yadounshi. I really thought that you would send someone to the shadow realm"/. "Not now, I'm not in the mood for you now". /"That's too bad"/_ the spirit chuckled evilly _/"Because I'm in the mood for you"/._

Ryou's eyes widened as the shadows in his room quickly crossed the floor to him and started to climb up his legs. "No don't!" Ryou yelled in slight panic.

It really was thanks to the spirit and these moments in particular that had helped him with his control over the shadow magic and reaction speed. But he really didn't want to deal with this now.

Ryou whimpered pitifully as he tried to fight the shadows off himself. They were so cold, but at the same time they held an air of nostalgia and a warmth that was un natural, they were begging for him to let go and go with them.

"I don't want to…" Ryou tried to argue but the shadows quickly spun themselves around him and up his neck, causing him to shiver from the contact_. /"I never asked for your opinion, watashino futago no tamashii. Saa, koko ni oide!"/_

With the spirit's firm but somehow gentle words, Ryou sighed and closed his eyes, letting himself fall with the shadows to where the spirit was waiting for him all ready.

This is a rough translation, please inform me if I have it wrong

Watashino futago no tamashii = my twin soul

Saa, koko ni oide = now, come here


	5. Chapter 5

It was weird waking up in the bed of his room the next morning. Especially when his body wasn't in any pain from the night. All the pain and exhaustion had felt so real in the shadow realm, but it was nowhere in sight in the human realm.

And it was weird, why had the spirit cut down the actual battle time they had. Now it was mostly hiding and hunting. A game of cat and mouse if you wanted to play with words.

What puzzled Ryou the most was that the spirit wasn't as aggressive as he had been some time ago. The cuts he had received had only been shallow, no stabs, not that much choking either.

It was like he was growing a conciseness, or some protective feelings for him. Ryou shook his head and got up from the bed stretching. Today was going to be spent packing his stuff away, and perhaps a last visit to the Knockturn alley.

He also made a mental note to go and see if the cloak he had ordered had arrived. It actually didn't look like a cloak that much, more like a long coat with somewhat wide sleeves. It was midnight blue in color and had silver hieroglyphs in the hem and sleeves. It was actually quite cool.

As Ryou dragged himself in to the bathroom to take a shower and brush his teeth he saw the spirit's reflection in place of his own in the mirror_. /"Good morning yadounshi. Did you have fun?"/_

That reminded Ryou that the spirit had acted quite weirdly last night, not the lack of violence mind you.

----- flash back -----

Ryou panted as he leaned against the maze wall with his hand and tried to listen where the spirit might be, but he was too occupied to notice the said man stand behind him. He felt the cold hands of the thief curl around his neck and heard the soft silky voice say _/"now you're mine"/_.

Ryou had nearly jumped out of his skin at the contact but the spirit let go of his throat and slid his right hand in to Ryou's white locks of hair _/"somehow I have the feeling that you weren't even trying to hide from me"/._

Ryou gasped and tried to fight his way out of the spirit's hands that were combing his hair, but only found himself pressed against the stony wall of the shadow maze. He tried to look over his shoulder to see what the spirit might do next. But the said person gently stopped Ryou from moving his head.

_/"I could enjoy this yadounshi, but you will have to run again to get better at this"/._ The spirit quickly turned Ryou away from the wall and pushed him forward to start the running. _/"Next time I really will have some fun with you, so you'd better run!"/_

----- end flash back -----

Unconsciously Ryou slid his hand in to his hair to run it trough the white locks and snapped back in to the reality when the spirit spoke again _/"judging by your silence, you did. Or did you want something more perhaps?"/_

"N- no…" What was he supposed to say to that? Something more? The fun the spirit had mentioned? Ryou wasn't sure if he ever wanted to know what the spirit had meant by that.

"_I'm going to take a shower now, please don't bother me during it. It makes me un comfortable". /"Why would it? There's nothing I haven't seen already"/. _

Okay, Ryou was now officially freaked by the way the spirit was acting but tried his best to ignore it as he stripped his clothes and stepped in to the shower.

It was just a formless three thousand years old spirit that liked to torment him from inside his head, nothing to worry about, it couldn't molest him or anything. Right?

Okay erase that formless comment. Once when the spirit had been playing around with the wand and had tried to channel some shadow magic trough it, he had managed to summon Ryou from his soul room in a physical body in the room.

After that the spirit had managed to do the same with himself. But he said that it took so much shadow magic that he preferred not to do it unless absolutely necessary.

Which it was not, but it would be better to get out of the shower quickly just to be sure. Of what, Ryou had no idea.


	6. Chapter 6

Ryou sighed heavily as he was walking among the people on the train station. He was getting tired of being constantly ran in to by kids who were in too much hurry for their own good. "I've been robbed!" Ryou sighed again _"was it you?"_ _/"Why is it always me that gets questioned every time something has been noticed missing?"/_

"_So it wasn't you?"_ /_"If it had been me you'd know I had done it"/. _That was mostly true so Ryou didn't bother to keep the conversation going. The spirit sounded irritated enough as it was.

He quickly maneuvered himself trough the masses of people and neared the barrier between the platforms nine and ten _"I guess that's it. Nothing else feels like magic in here"._ He carefully pressed his hand against the barrier and wasn't that surprised when he felt normal stone. _"I hope I'm not going to have to run towards it"._

He carefully slid his wand from it's holster on his arm and tapped the wall with it. The wall wavered slightly and when Ryou tried pressing his hand against it again, it went trough it. "I guess it gets activated by the slight amount of accidental magic the kids release when they think they're going to crash in to the wall".

Ryou smiled slightly as a small group of eleven year olds rushed trough the barrier besides him. And turned to see the clock that was hanging a small distance away. "Almost eleven, I should probably hurry." He sighed and flicked his wand slightly as he walked trough the wall.

The feeling he got as he walked trough the barrier was strange. At first glimpse it was like walking trough the shadow realm, but without the feeling of your soul being sucked out. And when he stepped out on the magical side of the barrier he suddenly got the feeling that he had traveled trough time.

The station itself was mostly up to date, but the train was red and had a steam engine. There hadn't been any of those around in a while.

_/"Stop your musings hikari, and get on the train before it leaves us behind."/ "I'm going, don't be a mother hen. It doesn't suit you"._ And as Ryou was climbing on to the train the spirit's words suddenly sunk in _"You called me what!?"_

.----------

The trip was long and boring, but he didn't really notice because of all the books he had bought on the alley. But his peace wouldn't last because of the kids that made noise all the time. And now especially in the next compartment.

Ryou sighed and put his book down and got up, dusting his new cloak before leaving his compartment. He turned to look into the compartment where he had heard the commotion from and his blood boiled slightly when he felt the same tainted magic float from the Slytherin students as he did from the deatheaters. The blond kid was the worst.

The kids were having some sort of a fight going on. They hadn't drawn wands yet but that was only a matter of time now. He opened the door and everything within the compartment stopped. The two girls from before were there and the two boys he had seen on the alley.

Then there were some other kids as well, but they weren't really involved. He saw the two boys pale as they looked at him and the deatheater kid wasn't any better. He had probably heard of what happened on the alley from his father or something. But the other boys had seen the spirit slaughter the deatheaters. Great first impressions.

"What's going on in here? And who were the participants?" The boys immediately began accusing each other for starting the fight, their fear of him momentarily forgotten.

Ryou loudly clapped his hands and thus quieted the boys that were now glaring death upon each other. "I believe that I never asked who started this. I asked who had some part in the actual fight".

The boys went silent, none of them wanted to know what sort of trouble they could get in. Ryou sighed and counted the people in the compartment, there were nine. One Ravenclaw, three Slytherins, and five Gryffindors.

The Ravenclaw was reading some weird magazine so she probably didn't have any part in this and one Gryffindor boy seemed to be so terrified that he probably couldn't have held a wand even if he had wanted to. So he now had four Gryffindors and three Slytherins.

"So, I conclude that I can take 60 points from the Gryffindors for fighting with a fellow school mate…" the Slytherins snickered "And thirty points from Slytherins for the exact same reason, plus an extra thirty for being rotten trough death eaters. Quit while you can still save your souls from the Necrohades".

Those last words were spoken with so little feeling that it sent chills up the students spines when Ryou left, he heard some half hearted name calling before the Slytherins came out of the compartment and the two less smarter ones went towards theirs. The blond kid stayed behind and looked at Ryou who had stopped just before entering his compartment.

"What did you mean professor?" Ryou smiled sadly and brought his left hand to touch the millenium ring hanging from his neck. "Once someone falls in to the traps of the Necrohades, not even their friends can help them. You lose the sight of everything else than absolute power and revenge".

"You speak like you know this from experience, professor". Ryou just smiled at Draco and walked in to his compartment while saying. "Just think, is your soul really worth selling away for lies? Power can be acquired by many different means".

Ryou closed the door behind him and sighed as he sat down on to the bench. /"Nice speech yadounshi"/. Ryou jumped a little and turned to look at the spirit's almost physical body. "You're using up your shadow magic before we even reach Hogwarts if you keep doing that".

/"Is that worry I detect from your voice?"/ "No. But what if something happens that requires you to use your shadow magic and then it just so happens that you've used it all up?" The spirit chuckled evilly causing Ryou to blush slightly in annoyance.

/"So there really was some worry in those words"/. Ryou just pouted, and the spirit chuckled again. /"Don't worry about it Yadounshi. It takes much less magic to support my own form than it would to support your's. So you don't need to worry about me"/.

"I wasn't worried about you" /"Then who?"/ No answer. /"There's no reason to argue with me about this Yadounshi, I know what you think"/. "Then what am I thinking?" The spirit seemed to think for a while and then answered smirking /"That I'm quite hot for someone that's been dead for three millenia"/.

Ryou shook his head with some laughter "No, actually I was thinking how to kill something that's allready dead and a part of myself, without killing myself in the process". The spirit laughed at that comment in good humor, he had thought his other half well.

.----------

There hadn't been too many disturbances during the rest of the trip and Ryou didn't know when, but he had fallen asleep on some point of the trip. Perhaps it was the stress of his new job that was catching up on him, or then he hadn't gotten enough sleep in a while. It could be both.

All he knew was that he was being shaken awake, surprisingly gently might I add. It couldn't be the spirit, he would have just pushed him down from the bench and be done with it. He wasn't evil, just mean. So who could it be?

Ryou was being shaken again but he really couldn't force his eyes open yet, his warm pilow was just too comfortable. As he snuggled a bit closer to his source of warmth his groggy mind was still trying to figure out who was trying to wake him up. He heard a distant chuckle reach his ears.

Then someone gently tugged his hair from his eyes and said something of being late. Now who could be concerned of such a fact? All the teachers. But none of them probably chuckled like that. Ryou forced his eyes open and looked around the compartment, it was empty but it looked somehow wrong.

Then he started to check what he was using as a pillow. He turned his head and cursed his hair for getting in to his eyes again. He noticed that his pillow was wearing clothes, not good. He looked up quickly in slight panic, who was he using as a pillow?

Ryou's brown eyes quickly met the reddish brown eye's of the spirit and he realized that the spirit was actually laying on the bench underneath him and leaning on a wall. The spirit smirked at him and asked /"sleep well?"/

Ryou bolted up in seconds and looked around the compartment to see where his books had landed themselves, there was no sign of them. Then Ryou noticed that the train was eerily quiet. "Where is everyone?"

The spirit got up from the bench and stretched his back /"I told you already, they left. You're going to be late if you don't get going now"/ "Whaaat!" Ryou quickly scanned the compartment one more time with his eyes, then checked that he had his wand and other equipment before dashing out of the compartment and the train.

The ground was muddy and slippery but he managed to keep standing while running towards the area where the carriages were supposed to be. None. "Why am I this lucky?" He turned his head from side to side and saw none of the carriages, no nothing.

He was just about to yell out and curse himself when the spirit appeared beside him in corporeal form _/"I told you that you were going to be late"/_. Ryou turned towards the spirit and for a moment looked like he could have growled "You should have just pushed me off the bench and I would have woken up in time! Now I have to walk and I'll be late".

The spirit just smirked_ /"would you have wanted to be pushed off the bench?"/_ Ryou sighed and relaxed from his near panic like state, he was late anyway. "No, but it would have made me be in time".

_/"Who said that you won't be on time?"/_ Ryou turned to look at the spirit who was smirking that all knowing annoying smirk of his. "You have a plan?" The spirit laughed _/"when don't I?"/_ The spirit lifted his left hand and Ryou could feel the shadows stir into life around them and compared to that dark doorway that came to life next to the spirit, the surrounding landscape looked much brighter.

"We're going to go trough that, right?" The spirit nodded and mentioned for Ryou to come, /"it's only a few meters"/. Ryou sighed and walked to the spirit, giving him a slight glare as he entered "I hate this place". The spirit laughed and entered as well, letting the entrance close behind them /"How are you ever going to stop hating it if you never get used to it?"/

Ryou shivered slightly as he felt the coldness of shadows chill him to the bone "no-not planning to". Darn, his teeth were clattering. /"It's not that bad once you learn to keep it under control. It's not trying to suck out your soul anymore, right?"/

Ryou had to nod as he walked with the spirit. He looked at his hand and had to marvel how he seemed to glow within this total darkness, it was a weird effect. But as soon as they had entered the realm, they were getting out already.

Ryou could see the lights of the castle when the spirit made an exit for them, they seemed so bright after walking in the shadow realm. Ryou stepped out of the realm and the spirit followed him out, grabbing his arm and stopping him before he could walk very far.

Ryou turned to look at the spirit with question clearly written in his eyes. "What now?" The spirit smirked and quickly groomed Ryou's hair back to the normal look. And while he was at it, he also straightened Ryou's cloak for him. /"I couldn't let you in there looking like that. It was quite adorable bed hair in deed but not presentable for the kind of first impression you want to make"/.

Before Ryou had the time to question the spirit's action the being in question hid away in to his soul room and a person walked behind Ryou "There you are Professor Bakura, I was just about to go and find you in case you had missed the carriages".

Ryou turned around and came face to face with professor McGonagall who had her wand out and the basic lumos spell activated. "As you can see, I'm right here so there's no need. I just merely stayed here to enjoy the scenery for a while".

The elderly professor nodded "I can see that, but the students are waiting to start their meal". Ryou nodded and briefly wondered if the professors or the headmaster had heard of how he dealed with the deatheaters on the alley some time ago. Probaply not, judging by the way how naturally McGonagall was acting around him. She wasn't even glancing over her shoulder while they walked towards the castle.


	7. Chapter 7

As Ryou walked in to the hall trough the large wooden gates, he was left speechless by the sight that greeted him. The ceiling was an exact image of the cloudless sky outside and the room was lit with thousands of floating candles. And he also noted that the plates and silverware were actually gold.

The hall gradually silenced as he walked along the middle aisle, all the students turned to look at him as he moved towards the teacher's table with the transfiguration professor. Boy, was he glad when he finally got there and could greet the headmaster and be announced to the students as the new professor.

They weren't staring at him anymore, but now they were whispering some very disturbing things. Like what was going to happen to him during the year. He had heard that one DaDa teacher had been captured by centaurs, one had been a werewolf. One had been an enemy spy in disguise, the real professor had been locked in a chest. One professor had crumbled to dust.

So this whispering really didn't fill him with much confidence, but he would be okay. None of the earlier professors had had a three thousand year old spirit constantly looking over their shoulder for them.

.----------

The following morning was exactly like Ryou had wanted it to be. It was sunny and the sky held small wool like clouds that floated around lazily. A great difference to yesterday's traveling conditions.

Ryou got up from bed and quickly showered and dressed in to his midnight blue cloak (the one with the silver hieroglyphs) and left for a small walk outside. No use going to breakfast yet, he had a few hours before classes started anyway.

He walked down the sun lit corridors and staircases of Hogwarts and actually took time to examine the interior of the castle. He even politely greeted some of the portraits that were already awake, causing some confusion on the portrait's part, it had been a while since someone had been that polite to them.

Ryou got out in no time and enjoyed the sun's warm rays on his face as he walked on the grass fields. He walked some time until he reached the shore of the lake and sat on to a stone to enjoy the scenery.

But before he knew it, time had flown forward and he should go to breakfast if he wanted to eat anything before his classes started. He quickly reviewed the schedule that he had and remembered that he had fifth years first, oh joy.

He walked back to the castle and quickly made his way to the great hall, causing everyone to stare at him again as he walked past the student filled tables who were just receiving their schedules. At least that was what he gathered from the constant smacking of heads on to the tables, especially from Gryffindors.

He gave every teacher a wish of good morning before sitting down to eat, the potions teacher was glaring cold death upon him again. Ryou looked up from his food and turned to face the professor in question "would you please tell me if I'm bothering you in some way? It's more polite than glaring".

The professor sneered "Not really. I' more concerned of how young you are. It's impossible for a wizard of your age to have enough experience to be teaching such a difficult subject". Ryou gave the professor a polite smile before answering "I understand your concern, but I assure you that I'm more than capable for teaching this subject".

"I think I've heard that before, oh yes. It was that Lockheart clown that said that". _"Umm, a bit help with this man?"_ There was a sigh and Ryou felt like he was floating a bit, that was what happened every time the spirit took partial control of his body.

/"I have heard what happened to the maggot, but I do assure you that I'm quite capable of teaching these gaki how to survive even if there was a dragon after their lives, not even mentioning that "dark lord" of yours"/. The spirit enforced this comment by a small smirk and then was gone again.

"_that went a bit over board" /"then why did you want my help?"/ "My mind's still asleep" /"yeah right…"/_ Ryou gave the slightly petrified potions master a small smile and apologized "sorry for speaking so straight, I got carried away a bit".

Ryou quickly finished his breakfast and retreated from the hall, _"I guess he won't be glaring at me like that for a while now_". _/"So there was no reason to scold me"/_ Ryou laughed a bit at the spirit's hopeful tone of voice _"don't worry, I'll figure out something to scold you of", /"darn"/._

Ryou quickly got to his class room and was a bit surprised when he saw it already furnished to his tastes. The candle holders were on the corners of his desk and most of his books were neatly organized on the shelves. The one's that he got from Knockturn alley were in a closet that was locked.

There were also some copies of old hieroglyphic manuscripts on the walls, there even was a tale of Kul Elna. Framed with frames that had carvings of the slaughter that had been done. And on the wall behind his desk was the Portrait's secret, hanging innocently, looking like an ordinary painting of an old man.

"You furnished this, didn't you?" _/"You like it?"/_ Ryou nodded and made note of how the books had been organized, and then went to read the tale of Kul Elna, immediately recognizing the way it was written. "You wrote this? I didn't know you wanted to share the tale". _/"I don't, but you're the only one in here who can understand it enough to understand it. Not even the ancient runes professor is on your level"/_.

"You're kidding, right_?" /"No, he may understand the symbols, but he doesn't know the language. And as you probably already noticed I used a lot of thieving terms that no one else knows"_/. It was a bit difficult to read, but Ryou succeeded anyway.

To think that the spirit had lived trough that horror of slaughter, he had lost his whole family. No wonder he had been desperate enough to make a pact with Zorc to get revenge. Before Ryou could make a deeper conversation about the writing with the spirit of the ring, the bell rang and students came in to the classroom, looking a bit horrified when they saw the grotesque skull candle holders on his desk. The frames of the writing didn't help any.

He must have looked out of place when he smiled at the students who all seemed ready to run out of the class room, screaming "deatheater".

Ryou walked behind his desk and was about to sit down but the spirit appeared corporeally on to the chair and smirked evilly at him. _"We'll talk about this later", /"can't wait for it"/._ Ryou sighed and opted to stand as the last of the student's rushed in yelling something about getting lost because they had forgotten the location of the class room during summer.

Ryou just smiled "It's okay, I'm not too strict about being late. As long as you don't bother the rest of the class when you do arrive". The two boys looked a bit embarrassed about yelling like that and promised not to do so again and Ryou finally got to start his first lesson in a magical school.

"As you might remember from last night, my name is Ryou Bakura and I'll be your Defense against the dark arts teacher this year. And as some basic rules of the class room. Don't bother your peers as they study. And I don't care what you speak about during the classes if I can't catch you, so if you can speak without being heard, I don't care what the subject is".

The class seemed to relax a bit, this teacher wasn't very strict. A girl's hand shot up and Ryou gave her the permission to speak "what will we be studying this year? I'd like to know so that I'll be prepared in the exam".

Ah, the exams. "I don't know how the last teachers have handled exams. But I'll be holding many small quiz like exams throughout the term, but there will be a bigger exam at the end of the year. Don't worry about it however, If you study well for the quizzes you'll be prepared for the bigger exam as well". The student's seemed to hate him now, they hated exams and he was going to have them do an extra amount of them.

"And before we start this year's study program there are still a few things I'd like to tell you". The small murmur in the class died down and everyone was once again listening to him. "I don't like using detentions to scare students…" Every student in the class cheered "However!" Ryou got their attention again.

"I will be landing extra homework to everyone if I see someone in the need of a detention". There was a wave of yelling and cursing from the boys in the class room. "And on a lighter note. If you're interested in earning extra house points or passing an exam without having to do it, I have an extra assignment. Do you want to hear it?"

Of course everyone was interested in extra house points or passing. "At any time during this term. You are free to create a maze filled with all imaginable and unimaginable traps and monsters. It can be anything you can think of. And if I can't get trough it, you'll pass a theory exam. If I get trough, you'll have to do the exams like the rest of the class, but you'll be rewarded points on good tries".

The kids seemed to start planning immediately and a hand rose from the back seat "can we do this only once?" Ryou shook his head "you can try as many times as you want, but I'll warn you. I'm quite good with mazes and obstacle courses".

Some of the students seemed to be a bit lost about what to put in their maze so Ryou decided to lend a bit of help "If you have trouble understanding what I meant, or figuring out how to go about this assignment. I suggest reading about ancient Egyptian tombs, they held marvelous traps and curses. But don't copy them, just use them as guide lines".

The student's seemed to be ready to start planning right away but Ryou had other ideas. "Now that that's over with, let's open the text book on the page eleven and start reading about basic counter curses".


	8. Chapter 8

If you asked Ryou, his first lesson had been a success. But that group had only been made up from Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, so the worst was yet to come. He had to plan something to get the respect of both Gryffindor and Slytherin houses.

Slytherins weren't that difficult to deal with, he would probably get their interest just with his class room. But that was the problem with Gryffindors, they would be distrusting of him the moment they stepped in. And he didn't want to favor either of the houses.

There was no other choice but to play his cards right, and always have a secret up his sleeve. This was going to be tricky. Ryou sighed and flipped trough the pages of a book that told about necromancy, it was of course purchased from the knockturn alley. When the next fifth years entered.

They seemed exited already, perhaps they had heard what he had told the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Or they just wanted to learn, he hoped. But once the Gryffindors took a better look at the classroom their smiles were gone. Ryou could just imagine their trust jumping out of the window without a parachute.

The Slytherins however were looking around the room in wonder. And the people that were studying ancient runes were already trying to translate the hieroglyphic texts on the walls. Ryou sighed as the two groups began to argue and nearly fight among themselves. They hadn't noticed him yet.

Now they were pulling out their wands, this was probably the time to stop them. He quickly concentrated on calling the shadows and then on the image of the card he wanted to summon. There was a cold gust of wind that flew trough the classroom, making everyone's hair and clothes flap around.

When the ghastly looking skeletons of Spiritualism, were floating in the class room, girls and boys screamed and yelled in fright. Ryou let a small smirk grace his lips as some of the student's tried casting spells at the creatures, of course they couldn't.

"Now that I've finally gotten your attention, could you all sit down so we can get started?" The student's sat down while looking at the creatures in fright. And as they had all sat, Ryou banished the creatures back in to the shadow realm. "Now that we can finally start the lesson, let's start with a discussion of what can be done in a situation where you can't use magic".

The bushy haired girl raised her hand immediately and Ryou gave her the permission to speak. "But it's nearly impossible for a situation like that to occur, professor". Ryou sighed "didn't one occur just now? If I had wanted to, I could have killed all of you when you couldn't use any spells. Any ideas?"

No hand's were raised. _/"Where have these kids grown up? A bucket??"/ "Now now, don't lose your temper yet"._ Ryou quickly flicked his left wrist, causing a knife to fall in to his hand from a hidden pocket in his sleeve. Then he lifted it for show "you could use muggle means…"

But before he could continue speaking, a Slytherin yelled. "That's barbaric! Why would we even want to touch that thing?" Ryou sighed before explaining "it's not any more barbaric than some spells that wizards have invented over time. And if you can't do anything magical at the time, it's going to save your life".

Ryou flicked his wand and there were different pictures of bloodily slaughtered humans, all in different ways. "Can someone tell me if the slaughter in these pictures is done with a knife?" All student's looked sick and just weakly nodded.

"No, it's all done with spells. And you're telling me that muggles are barbaric?" The pictures were gone as fast as they came and some students ran in to the nearest bathrooms to throw up while Ryou thought to himself. _"I over did it again, didn't I?" /"You think?"/ _

When everyone was back in the class room, Ryou could finally start the class properly. "This year I'll be teaching you some new ways that have been found efficient against some of the darkest spells there are. But we'll also be doing a slight plunge in to the early recorded history of mankind to see how the wizards of that time dueled".

"And speaking of dueling, I challenge you all to a duel of wits and skill. The rules are simple. You plan a deadly maze with everything you can imagine and we'll have the school create it in some spare space it has. And if it so happens that I can't get out of there within a few days, you automatically pass this term. But if I were you I'd still do my homework, there hasn't been any maze that could hold me in for that long".

The student's seemed to be immersed in their planning and Ryou just smiled at that, he loved to see students concentrated on work that he had given them. A hand was raised and Ryou recognized the girl immediately, "yes miss Granger?"

She let her arm fall as she spoke "I was just wondering if this worked the other way around as well, you make the maze and we could go trough it. That would give us the much needed first hand experience on how to survive in un known circumstances".

Ryou nodded, "That is a good point miss, but I think it's against the law to put you in a life or death situation on school grounds. But don't worry, we'll have some risk free dangerous situations arranged with the head master. In the form of practical exams".

Ryou could see some students perk up at his words at that moment, it looked like he would have to prepare quite a lot of practical exams for them, because they seemed like they hadn't had those in a while.

"But before we can move to the exams, I need to teach something to you first. Let's take the books out and read for a while and then I'll be pairing you up to practice the spell in the chapter three."

To Ryou's pleasant surprise not many were complaining about reading when they knew that they would practice as well.


	9. Chapter 9

Ryou yawned and stretched as he walked in to his room. It had been pretty uneventful year so far, but there still was half of it left. During the last months in school he had started to learn the basic traits of the four houses and how to get them to do their homework without much fuss.

He had also gotten and sent letters to Yugi and the gang in Japan and Anzu who was in America in her dancing school. All of them wanted to know more of the boarding school job he had told them he had gotten. But only Yugi knew the details of it.

It was against the rules of the magical community to tell about it to muggles, but technically Yugi wasn't a muggle more like a squib. Ryou still didn't understand how he had managed to re acquire the millenium ring after it had fallen in to that seemingly bottomless pit. It had just appeared on his desk one day.

Although Yugi hadn't been as lucky with the puzzle. It was still lost underneath the Egyptian sands.

Ryou yawned again as he looked at the clock, only 7 pm. And he still had a huge pile of quizzes to grade on top of being dead tired, the woe's of being a teacher. He sighed and asked the house elves to send some coffee up on his desk as he sat to grade the papers.

Sighing he first picked up the Gryffindor papers dipping his quill in to his inkwell and starting to mark the wrong answers. _/"You know that staying up so late won't be healthy, right?"/_ Ryou nearly spilt the ink all over the paper he was grading when the spirit spoke to him inside his head.

"Sheesh.. Don't do that ever again. I nearly had a heart attack". The spirit appeared in his corporeal form in front of his desk and smirked playfully at him. _/"You should know better than to just think that I'm not going to take advantage of a possible situation to scare you."/_ It was an apology.

"Well, you should know better than to scare me like that. I know you don't like it when I give you the silent treatment". He was forgiven. The spirit just laughed at him. /_"Why don't you go to bed Yadounshi, I'll wake you up early enough to finish those"/_ He pointed at the papers.

Ryou sighed and shook his head as he took the coffee mug that had appeared on his table. "I'll be just fine, and stop worrying about me. It's not like you". Before he could take a sip of the coffee however, the spirit put a not so corporeal hand on top of the mug and gently made him lower it back on the table.

_/"I mean it"/_. The two people sharing the same body locked eyes. Both trying to stare the other down, trying to duel the other to submission. And neither was having any of it.

"Please just let me finish these". The spirit shook it's head and kept the soft glare locked in the other's eyes. _/"You're begging.. it means you're tired. Just go to sleep already, you haven't slept well these past weeks"/._

The spirit was right and Ryou knew it. He hadn't been able to sleep well during the past week. There was something dark on the horizon, he kept seeing flashes of it in his private tarot readings, and the tea leaves. It troubled him even more when he knew that no one else was paying any mind to the warnings.

Ryou heard a chuckle from next to him and he opened his eyes. when had he closed them? The spirit was next to him now and was yet again wearing that weird expression of worry and mirth on his face. _/"Just let go and go to sleep Ryou"/._

Those soft word were so surprising that Ryou didn't even really think about complaining and let the spirit take over his body as he fell asleep.

He couldn't have slept very long before he was shaken awake again, Ryou quickly snapped his eyes open and quickly looked over the scared faces next to his bed. Wait, Bed? The spirit must have walked him over. Luckily he hadn't bothered to chance in to pajama's.

Ryou got up from the bed and asked the scared kids what was wrong, the answer however wasn't what he had wanted to hear at all. "Deatheaters are attacking the castle!"

Ryo quickly ran over to his trunk and quickly grabbed a belt with his deck on it and another belt, but this one was filled with different daggers. He heard the kids gasp from behind him as he threw the belt at thin air "Wake up, there's trouble!"

And to further shock the kids the belt was couth in mid air by someone that quickly became fully visible to them. The person looked very much like their teacher but had much tanner skin and shorter hair, not to mention the scars on his face.

The spirit smirked in his old body and the kids tried to move further away from the crazy looking twin of their teacher. /"I am awake Yadounshi, let's go"/. The spirit tossed the belt over his shoulder and pulled an extra dagger out from under the bed's mattress before he ran out of the door cackling madly.

Ryou turned to look at the kids before rushing after the tomb robber and looked thoughtful before snatching a card from his deck "the Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams!" The shadows around the room squirmed to life and rushed towards Ryou's bed before hiding beneath the covers.

"You all get on the bed and don't come off it before the danger is gone. I made a spell that will keep you all safe if anyone will get in". He didn't stay to check if they did as he told before running off to find his counter part in the mazes of Hogwarts' corridors.


	10. Chapter 10

The tomb robber had finally managed to silence his mad laughter and was now one with the shadows as he ran trough the corridors of the huge school. The familiar feeling of a dagger in his hand and the adrenalin in his system was nearly overweighting his common sense and caution. But only nearly.

He paused at a corner when there was a sudden flash of light and used the shiny dagger's side to see the people that were behind the corner. A person cloaked from head to toe and the repetitive green flashed from his wand immediately told Bakura that this person was free prey to get.

He quickly slithered from behind his wall and kept to the flickering shadows of the spell light before suddenly calling upon the shadows around and stepping out from behind the statue he was. He pointed his hand towards the death eater and yelled out /"Curse of Darkness!"/

The deatheater turned around and tried to cast a spell on Bakura but just as the name of the spell was leaving his lips he collapsed on the floor screaming of horrible pain. While The thief let out a blood curling laugh his eyes nearly glowing in the darkness around.

The two teachers that had been dueling the man, looked at him with fear as he stepped over the shaking pile of clothes and towards them while still chuckling. "m-mister Bakura?" The transfiguration teacher asked, clearly frightened of the man before her now.

The thief nearly fell in to another fit of laughter just because of her tone and expression alone until he heard slight panting and silent running footsteps from where he had just come from. He had nearly thrown the dagger in his hand before he noticed the swirls the shadows made in the hallway. He smirked.

Bakura turned halfway away from the direction to make sure that the teachers wouldn't fry the next person who came from behind the corner, but there was nothing to worry about for the teachers hadn't even heard the person running towards them.

As Ryou finally came from behind the corner the two teachers lifted their wands but Bakura had already grabbed their wand hands and aimed them elsewhere. Ryou was running towards the three shapes at the end of the corridor when he noticed the pile of cloth that started to rise from the floor and aimed it's wand towards him.

Ryou had already leaped aside from the spell the man sent towards him and taken his own out before the pained scream from the man reached his ears. Ryou quickly got up from where he had rolled and came to the two teachers and his other personality.

"curse of darkness?" Bakura just smirked and laughed slightly /"The bastard deserved it"/. Ryou rolled his eyes and looked at the two shaken teachers before him, and gave an apolitical bow "I am truly sorry you have had to witness this".

Before the teachers managed to say anything the thief spoke /"There are more towards the ground level"/ he made a small pause before speaking again /"and someone's dead. I can taste it in the air"/. With this said the spirit laughed again and silently dashed towards the stairs and disappeared in to the surrounding shadows.

McGonagall managed to catch Ryou's sleeve before he could run after the tomb robber and asked shakily "Who was that?" Ryou just smiled reassuringly to the teacher and said "you could perhaps call him my darker twin but you shouldn't worry, he here only to help and won't be around afterwards".

With that said Ryou managed to twist his sleeve out of McGonagall's grasp and followed after his "twin".

The next time he saw the thief he was near the ground level, and immersed in a fight with a man that Ryou identified as Greyback. The most well known werewolf around. He quickly scanned the surroundings and noticed a few wizards trying to retreat from the fight and headed their way.

He once again put his hand to his deck and pulled out cards two this time. "Goblin Zombie, Sangan!" The shadows swirled around and the tall creature with a bony armor dashed towards the deatheaters quicker than the wizards noticed.

The smaller creature however stayed to float near Ryou in case it was needed close by. Ryou got to the wizards and launched a stupefy randomly in to the ranks of the deatheaters. "How bad is it down here?"

The auror besides him quickly glanced at him before launching his own spells in to the crowd. "Could be better, but we're driving them back for now!" Ryou dodged a spell that was sent his way and saw Sangan attack a deatheater on his right. The little critter deserved a treat after this was over.

The wizard glanced around the battle and quickly pinpointed the two monsters attacking the deatheaters around them. "What's with the creatures, are you a summoner or something?"

Ryou shook his head as he sent a conjured knife flying towards a unsuspecting deatheater. "No. I'm something even more uncommon than a normal mage". Suddenly a form with white hair and a red cloak fluttered itself to Ryou and the wizard from the midst of battle.

The wizard nearly cursed the person that appeared out of nowhere so quickly, but was stopped by both of the white haired men as they both held knives at his throat and spoke out "don't even think about it"/.

The wizard swallowed down air as he tried to come to terms how close he had just been to death as the two took their knives off his throat and the red clad man kneeled on the floor while the blue clad one kept attacking the deatheaters around them.

/"I need a breather Ryou, hold the knives while I strike some terror"/ Ryou nodded and took the belt with the knives from the spirit as he melted from everyone else's sight and began to collect enough shadows together to call upon the shadow realm.

Ryou could feel the drain this had on his energy as well and only hoped that things would go well enough for them. They hadn't done anything like this before, because calling on monsters straight from the shadow realm was always risky. And the monsters sometimes unpredictable if there were no enemies.

Ryou could see that this summoning was taking much out of the other as well and concentrated on keeping himself safe as well as he could while his energy was being drawn away by the summoning.

Too bad for both of them, The death eaters had noticed the shadows that were gathering around Ryou and focused on getting rid of him as quickly as possible.

The Shadows were almost enough now, soon he could pull on them without the danger of falling trough to the other side. Yes! It was enough.

Bakura thrust his hand trough the portal of shadows he had made and grabbed the most greedy one he could and pulled it up from the portal, while focusing on the monster he wanted to answer his call.

The shadow he had pulled out lashed out of his control and a few others escaped the realm as well circling each other and creating a form of tall thin woman that quickly formed out of the shadows and stepped down among the warring wizards.

Her indifferent eyes scanned the group around her and the spells that were shot at her were still devoured by the shadows that were coating the floor and the walls. She glanced back at her summoners and both pointed at the easily distinguished deatheaters that were still trying to spell the creature away.

She turned and gave the death eaters a cold glare as the doll in her hands rolled it's eyes towards the wizards that had been designated as it's pray.

Bakura couldn't help the smug smile on his lips as the deatheaters yelled and screamed as the monster attacked them. But suddenly he felt a horrible twisting and burning pain spread from his chest and he quickly turned to look at Ryou.

He couldn't breath he couldn't move, as the green light flashed around him and tugged him back in to Ryou's body but it didn't stop there. He was being tugged deeper in to the darkness of nothing. He was angry he was afraid, how dare they hurt his host. He couldn't leave like this, he had to get their souls for this, lock them deep in to the shadow realm for all eternity.

He felt a wave of un imaginable cold grab him and pull him back up from the deep darkness he had fallen in to, then the over bearing warmth of being burned and he screamed, he wasn't sure if he did or not, but it felt like he did. And everything stopped, he was floating.


	11. Chapter 11

Darkness...

It was everywhere he looked....

Or did he have his eyes closed....

He didn't know...

Was he dead?

Where was he?

Were those sounds?

There wasn't supposed to be sounds in the nothing...

And he hadn't gone trough the hall of Anubis yet either.

He hadn't even seen the soul eating monster yet.

Was this really all there was now?

He'd take the shadow realm any day compared to this....

...nothing.

More sounds.

This time it didn't sound like talking.

It was like something scaly was slithering across the floor towards him.

He looked around..

..there was no floor.

And yet the sound was getting closer.

Bakura turned around in the darkness that surrounded him and his eyes widened as he saw what was floating behind him. The Diabound.

Suddenly he was falling, he knew it only because his soul monster was rising so quickly away from him. Now he couldn't see it anymore, but he felt the wind from falling. Or was it wind at all. And then it stopped, so suddenly.

Now he knew he had his eyes closed. There were footsteps all around him now, and hushed talking. It was hard to make out what they were saying, like they were speaking in another language. But that couldn't be.

And why was he here? Isn't he supposed to be in his soul room and let Ryou worry about the waking up part and complaining about pain? Why did he have such a killer headache anyway?

He felt someone move something around him, was it the sheets or the bed it didn't matter right now. What did matter was that it didn't help his headache at all. And he couldn't help the pained groan that escaped him.

There was suddenly more scurrying around him and whispers almost so loud that his head felt like exploding and splattering his brain all over the walls that were... he carefully opened his eyes slightly but closed them quickly as the brightness of the room made the already existing headache worse. And the wall's were white for crying out loud!

They could use a few splatters of color. Now someone was calling his name somewhere close by. And why were they talking to him like he was a frigging baby! He was a three thousand years old spirit not a toddler.

He couldn't take it anymore, he had to do something about it but he felt too tired to move to kill the person. "Shut up bitch..." okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say but it shut her up pretty quickly. And now he would hear Ryou telling him to apologize for his language.

But he heard nothing. Only the annoying yapping of the lady that was now at least calling him a "sir" and not "Ryou dear" or "sweetie". But he couldn't hear Ryou.

Finally the woman stopped bugging him and started to leave the room, she probably thought that he had fallen asleep again. Let her think that, he had more important things to worry about.

He silently and stealthily slipped from the body he was occupying and landed in to his soul room. It was different. Why was it different?

He looked around the room, it looked like something had torn trough the place and the holes had been fixed with Ryou's soul room. There were things he had never seen before and the things that had dragged along with him from the moment he had first found out about this place.

It was so alien that he couldn't take any more of it. He launched himself back in to the body just as someone was reaching for him from the side of the bed. To put a wet cloth on his head, to tug the sheets up a bit or to stab him in the throat. He took no chances as he suddenly moved his hands and grabbed the wrists that were too close for comfort.

He opened his eyes, pain be damned. He had to see who was there. A nurse had reached over him to place a wet cloth on his forehead, and was now trembling in fear as he looked at her. "Where am I?"

his voice sounded odd to his ears, but he still knew that it was his.

The trembling nurse said something about saint mungo's but Bakura didn't really listen. Nor did he really care that the place sounded like a holy animal. He had to find out what had happened to Ryou.

The best thing to do first would probably ask why he had been brought here. "Why, am I here?" Now the nurse really did look frightened, and he barely could make out what she had stuttered to him. "you must be joking". Was the only sane thing that he could really think of now but the nurse shook her head.

Bakura let go of her hands and she quickly pulled them to herself and Bakura started to think. _"Hit by the killing curse, that's not possible. That can't be possible"._ But it would explain why he couldn't feel Ryou anywhere.

He decided to try again, he wouldn't stop until he found Ryou. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he carefully slid back in to his soul room again, this time looking around better.

He looked along all of the four walls of the spacey room, some parts were made of old Egyptian stone and other were modern plaster walls with paint. There were pictures hung around the walls, some of Ryou's childhood and some of his own. But no door.

There was no door!! He started to feel a slight panic settle in him, looking trough the walls carefully again. There had to be something, a hatch, a hole, a secret passage. Anything. But there wasn't.

He started looking trough all the items thrown around, one of them had to have the answers he was looking for. Just had to. He couldn't have survived that spell without Ryou, it just wasn't possible. It wasn't!

A box filled with plushies and other toys, a rack of daggers and swords. His bed an odd looking mix of Egyptian and modern. A bedside table with a picture of Ryou's sister and himself. And a note... A note!

Bakura franticly reached for the note. What would it say? Was it from Ryou?

"_What? No. It hurts._

_Spirit? Is the spirit safe?_

_It hurts, it hurts._

_I'm sorry, please be safe spirit"._

He couldn't believe it.. this looked like a bad joke at first, but it couldn't be. Those sounded like last words, but they couldn't be. The killing curse. It made sense, but it couldn't be. No.

Bakura let the note slip from between his fingers to the floor and felt his heart clenching painfully. Ryou couldn't just be... gone. It wasn't right.

He's the one that wasn't supposed to be here. Ryou was supposed to explore the wizarding world. Was supposed to bring something to the mutt to scare him so everyone could laugh. He was supposed to go home and play games with the Pharaoh's holder.

He wasn't supposed to be... gone.

A dead silence surrounded the soul room as Bakura listened. There was no sound at all. It wasn't like when Ryou was sleeping in the next room when he could hear his breathing. Ryou wasn't trying to get his opinions on anything regarding what was happening outside. There was nothing at all.

Nothing at all.

Bakura felt his chest tighten and he took in a quick gasp of breath, and it was followed by another. He should calm down now. He had no idea what would happen to the body if something were to happen to him in his soul room.

But he couldn't, he just couldn't brush this aside like so many other... lost spirits.

His legs felt weak all of a sudden and he fell to the stony, partly carpeted floor below him. He tried to keep himself upright by grabbing on to the bedside table that he had seen so many times in Ryou's soul room.

But something was between his hand and the surface, causing his grip to slide off the table and he fell to the floor.

He cursed loudly, there was no one to complain anyway. He felt his chest tighten again at the thought. He looked at what caused his grip on the table to slide off. It was a duel monsters spell card.

He felt stinging behind his eyes and he pressed them forcefully shut. He wouldn't cry because of this, he hadn't cried in millennias. Not even when his family had been melted in to the millenium items. He wouldn't.

There was a small sound and Bakura opened his eyes, what was that. He looked around but didn't see anything. Something warm slid down his cheek and he angrily wiped it away. He wasn't supposed to cry.

He looked down at the card in his hand to look at it better. There was a wet spot on it, like a water drop had hit it. He dried the card and turned it around, Change of Heart. How cruel.

Bakura pulled his lips in to a twisted smile, oh how fate played with him like a dead rat. It was Ryou's favorite card, the picture and the name had reminded him of the two of them.

The angel was split in half, _"It's like us, two halves of one and the same"._ The name, _"I'm glad you're not the same as back then, when you tried to destroy the world"._

Bakura squeezed the card in his fingers, pulling his arms around himself as he shook slightly because of unshed tears.

And he screamed.


	12. Chapter 12

It all felt like a nightmare. He was let out of the hospital he was in, he went back to Hogwarts to play his part as Ryou 'till the end of school year. He knew that his performance could have been better. But he couldn't bother to try. He was not Ryou.

He did however keep up with the schedule that his other half had made and even teached the kids what he could. Okay perhaps his acting sucked big time to get the students worrying about him as well.

There was a group of Ravenclaws that stayed after class one day and asked if he was okay.

.---------

Bakura lifted his head from the papers that had been filled and returned after the day's practical session, and saw the small group of fifth year girls in their blue patterned robes.

"Can I help you in some way?" The girls glanced at each other before one of them stood a bit away from the rest and asked, "are you feeling okay professor? You have been acting differently since the deatheater attack".

"_Only Dumbledore had died"._ That last statement hung unsaid in the air, what did they know.

Bakura sighed and shook his head slightly, letting his unruly white hair settle itself on his shoulders before standing up from his desk and walking to the papyrus he had written himself at the start of the school year.

"I am more than fine, if not a bit..." sad, heartbroken, lonely, confused "troubled..." It was a half truth at best but these were such young girls, who was he to trouble them with things he himself couldn't chance.

Before the girls could ask more he spontaneously changed the subject to the object before him on the wall. "Do you know what this writing is about?" he heard the girls shaking their heads, of course they had no idea.

"It's a story, about a dark magical rite that required 99 human sacrifices". He ignored the shudders from the girls and continued. "They were all melted in a huge cauldron with gold, to give shape to seven dark artifacts".

He turned to the girls who looked spooked but curious. Bakura nodded at them, mimicking what Ryou always did when he gave permission to speak. "Did one of the evil mages write that?"

Evil mages? The priests? Bakura shook his head. "Evil is merely a point of view. It was written by the only survivor of the village that they slaughtered". Bakura took a deep breath before continuing.

"The one's who killed all the people were the Pharao's, Akhnamkhanon's holy priests. They did it to fight off warriors from another land". Why was he telling them this? Perhaps because he had to be able to share it with someone.

"But now I fear you will be late for your next class if you linger any longer". He swung his hand towards the door and the girls started to leave, still confused about what they had just heard.

When the girls had left he reached for the writing and took it down from the wall. Holding it in his hands he summoned a small portal to the shadows on the floor and dropped the writing. The less memories the better.

"_No child should have to live trough such"._

"_It's hard to face death at that age"._

"Yes Hikari, it is hard. Harder than you ever knew".

.---------

Then there were the letters that Yugi and the gang had sent him shortly after the attack. It was hard to answer them to keep their suspicion off his shoulders for now. But he had somehow managed. And now Yugi was coming to England to take part in a big dueling tournament.

It was being held just when the schools ended, to allow the biggest number of attendants possible. He wanted to meet up with him. Bakura had warned the kid, in a way.

.---------

"_Yugi, when you come to Britain. Please come to the King's Cross station and wait for me there. I haven't been as truthful as I could have been in the last few letters. But there are some things better spoken face to face._

_There have been some drastic changes, and I believe you won't like them. But trust me, I like them even less than you will"._

.---------

He could have given a proper heads up, but he just couldn't find the motivation anywhere. But now it was finally the time to meet up with the whelp.

Bakura was sitting silently in the train compartment he had nominated as his, and surprisingly no one had bothered him during the whole journey. Like there really would be anyone to bother him.

Bakura sighed for the umpteenth time and dug trough his trunk for a hairbrush, It had been a while since he had fought with the tangles of Ryou's hair. But it would be better if Yugi didn't try to send him to the shadow realm when he saw him.

He carefully collected the hair as he had seen his host do so many times before and started from the ends, slowly advancing towards the roots. It was strange to do something like this. It just grounded him more firmly to this body and this world.

He conjured a mirror with a small flick of their wand and checked that he looked as much like Ryou as he could.

It had startled him at first, how much he looked like his host. Apart from his right eye that was reddish brown when the other was the same kind chocolate brown as Ryou's had been. And the scar as well.

He gently pulled his fingers along the too familiar scar that decorated the space below the right eye. He couldn't help but think of the spell card Chance of Heart when he looked at the mirror. Half and half. _Two halves of one_.

The train started to slow down slightly as it got closer to the station and Bakura put the hair brush and the mirror away. Letting the trunk fade in to the shadow realm.

He stood up from his bench and pulled the long black coat on top of the white button up shirt he was wearing. Wouldn't want the pharaoh's chibi to turn tail and run.

He opened the door to his compartment and walked along the train corridor towards the closest door, putting his wand away in to one of his hidden knife pockets of the coat as the train finally stopped.

He opened the door and casually walked trough the masses of worried parents and siblings hugging the returned students.

Bakura bit his toung slightly to ground himself back to what he was doing. It wouldn't do to act weak before potential enemies.

He quickly slipped trough the magical barrier between the two muggle stations. _"I guess that's it. Nothing else feels like magic in here". _It didn't do any good to linger on the past, he had to keep his cool.

He walked lazily trough the people rushing to catch their trains and couldn't help but smirk when he noticed the half open handbag on a lady's elbow. He yawned and stretched while closing his eyes slightly. Causing himself to bump against the lady, he muttered his hasty apologies while his hand made a quick dive in to the purse.

He kept walking for a while before taking the cell phone out of his pocket and cringed at the flowery pattern on it's shell. He sighed and quickly dialed Yugi's number in the cell and waited.

It rung a few times and then Yugi answered, "Motou?" ah yes.. unknown phone number. "Yugi, meet me at...." Bakura glanced around before his eyes landed on the nearest cafe, "Robert's coffee??" It was better than Wayne's.

He shut the phone and dumped it in to the nearest trash bin as he walked towards the cafe.

He didn't have to sit there for too long until Yugi appeared at the doorway and he waved him over with a pleasant smile, Yugi smiled as well but it was short lived as he came closer and noticed the scar below his eye.

"Ryou, what happened?" Bakura shook his head and took a sip of the tea he had purchased earlier. "He died".

Yugi's eyes widened almost comically if it hadn't been for the shock in them. "What?!?" bakura gave him a glare that clearly told him to be quiet.

"look... Yugi. I told you there would be some changes in me". Yugi was about to say something but Bakura silenced him with a glare. "And I told you that I don't like them myself either".

"But what happened to him?" Yugi nearly begged to know and Bakura felt a small wave of sympathy at those purple watery eyes. He sighed as he began to re tell what he knew had happened and what he speculated was the reason why Ryou was gone.

"Look, Yugi. There was an attack on the school by the evil wizards that Ryou had told you about. They managed to hit him with that death curse of theirs. And it ripped the two of us apart... split us in two. We would both be still here if the spell weren't designed to absorb the soul of the dead person".

Yugi slumped in his seat and buried his face in to his hands. "But why him?" And before Bakura had the chance to continued Yugi nearly attacked him. "You pushed him in the way of that spell, didn't you! You got rid of him!"

Those words cut deep in to the wounds that hadn't healed yet. Bakura closed his eyes, willing himself to stay calm. But the last straw broke when Yugi whispered "you murderer".

Bakura opened his eyes and something in the way he looked at Yugi had changed because his eyes widened in confusion. Bakura shook his head and chugged down the rest of the tea, before managing to say "we continue this outside".

He got up before Yugi had the chance to say anything more to him, and out before the stinging behind his eyes got too bad. _"How dare that whelp!?! Calling him a murderer of all people?"_ He leaned against a wall and took a few deep breaths before Yugi managed to join him.

"I didn't". Yugi blinked. "I didn't push him in the way of the spell. I didn't kill him". Yugi looked at him with a skeptical look. "I don't know how I could make you understand that I didn't want this to happen".

"Perhaps by telling me how you were a part of what happened to him". Bakura winced at the cold tone of Yugi's voice, he sounded too much like the pharaoh for his liking right now.

"I didn't survive the spell too well either". Yugi blinked and crossed his arms before his chest, now he even looked like the pharaoh.

"The spell ripped in to both halves of our soul, ripping parts out of mine and Ryou's. It just so happened that Ryou was inhabiting the body when it hit, that must be the only reason why he was the one to go".

Bakura couldn't stop the tears anymore. He needed a drink, and a strong one at that. "You don't happen to be carrying around a bottle of anything strong, do you?" Yugi could only shake his head in stupor, he had never seen the tomb robbers spirit crying before. Not even covering against impossible odds.

Bakura cursed loudly before locking his gaze with Yugi's again. "Whoever you tell, and whatever you tell them. I don't care. Just remember that I will hear it too, don't desecrate his memory".

And he walked away, slipping in to the crowd like he was a part of it. Leaving Yugi standing alone before the cafe thinking about the threat that he had left unsaid.

* * *

And that's it people... Thank you for the rewieved opinions, favourites and alerts.. I'm glad to be of service ^^


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